Schizophonia: Its cause, effect and solution

Your ears are pretty impressive. They're always-on, even when you're asleep. They can hear 10 octaves -- a frequency range of about 20Hz to 20,000Hz. They can detect sounds that move the eardrum as little as four atomic widths, and those a trillion times louder than that.

So you should look after them, says Julian Treasure, the chairman of the Sound Agency, speaking at TEDGlobal 2010. His organisation works with businesses to improve their sound environment, making life more pleasant for workers by carefully curating the different sources of noise that they're exposed to. He gave a talk about the ways in which sound can be unpleasant, but also the ways in which sound can have a calming, relaxing, and motivating effect on your life.

Schizophonia is a term, coined by Canadian composer R.M.Schaefer, which refers to when a recorded sound is split off from its original source -- a dislocation between what you hear and what you see. This reproduction of a sound can confuse the brain because it can't always ascertain the source. "Buy the best headphones you possibly can afford," adds Treasure, claiming out that 16 percent of teenagers in America suffer from deafness as a result of the personal music player revolution. "Don't be afraid to put your fingers in your ears if you're stuck in a loud environment without adequate protection."

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But there are certain types of sounds that are good for you, says Treasure. Wind, water and birdsong are all very good for your ears, even if they're generated in a schizophonic manner, and silence is even better. A good tactic in a noisy environment is to put in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, turn them on, and listen to absolutely nothing.

Sound design is important. Set up both a foreground and a background, like radio presenters often do with "beds" of sound that they talk over. It doesn't have to be music in the background, though -- there's a range of white noise solutions on the web and on major smartphone app stores that can also offer a pleasant background to whatever you're listening to in the foreground.

So the next time you've got half an hour to kill, experiment with soundscapes. Place different things in the foreground and background. Experiment with the EQ settings on your gadgets to get the sound perfect. Try different ways of listening to the same thing -- headphones, speakers and earbuds -- and compare the difference.